Verizon now supports Ubuntu Phone

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Whether or not Ubuntu Touch would release for public consumption by its projected April 2014 date is certainly in question, but a bigger question was always if anyone major carrier would actually support it. Well, Verizon — arguably the most major carrier — has hopped on board.

Before the addition of Verizon, Canonical’s Carrier Advisory Group totaled nine carriers, none of which were US carriers. The addition of Verizon makes 10, and also makes the mobile giant the first US carrier to join the group, which will perhaps spur its competitors to join as well. Along with Sprint’s support of Firefox OS, it appears Verizon also now becomes the only other US carrier to support a mobile Linux platform. At the end of July, the CAG will close its membership doors for a bit, so maybe the addition of a shortened timeframe and artificially created club exclusivity mentality will get some of the other big US carriers, like AT&T, on board.

If you’re now getting ready to toss your iPhone 5 out of the window in anticipation of a new Verizon Ubuntu phone, don’t unplug it from the wall just yet. Just because a carrier is a member of the CAG, that doesn’t mean they’re locked in to releasing an Ubuntu Touch device. It’s entirely possible Verizon joined the board just in case the platform takes off, then the company can say, “See? We knew all along, look how smart we were for joining way back when.”

Again, though, we won’t really know how this will all play out until Canonical can actually release a stable version of the device, which is projected to be around April of next year.